Open almost a week in the UK and opening this weekend in the US and elsewhere. Let's see if the Box Office stays on track.

Murder on the Orient Express steams ahead at the UK box office

A big budget and starry cast prove just the ticket as Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of the Agatha Christie mystery slays Thor: Ragnarok

The winner: Murder on the Orient ExpressWould audiences pay to see another film version of the most famous whodunnit ever? Fox gambled that they would, throwing a lavish budget and a cavalcade of stars at the screen with Murder on the Orient Express, directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot.

In the UK at any rate, the gamble has paid off: the Agatha Christie adaptation opened with a robust £4.99m from 618 cinemas. Given a likely older audience skew, midweek business should also be strong.

Murder on the Orient Express was last in cinemas in 1974, in an adaptation directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery and John Gielgud. Subsequent versions have been for television. Peter Ustinov starred as Poirot in big-screen Christie adaptations Death on the Nile (1978), Evil Under the Sun (1982) and Appointment with Death (1988).

Murder on the Orient Express opens in another 26 markets this week, including North America, China, Russia, Australia and Germany. Japan, France and Italy follow in December....

The marketThanks to Murder on the Orient Express and Thor: Ragnarok, the market is 21% up on the equivalent weekend from 2016, when Doctor Strange, Trolls and The Accountant held the top three places.

Figures for the first 10 months of the year show box office running 3% ahead of 2016 for the period – a disappointing outcome given this year was 18% ahead of 2016 after the first quarter and 12% ahead after the first six months. Cinema bookers can be confident of a huge surge this coming weekend, thanks to the arrival of Paddington 2.

Expect a long run for Murder On The Orient Express in the UK, given its crossover appeal and it will also pull in decent midweek returns, especially if it manages to capture the ‘Grey Pound’ audience that benefited the likes of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Cinderella is currently Branagh’s best-ever result at the UK box office with $27.9m (£21.28m).

Also for Fox, Kingsman: The Golden Circle shot to an extra $233,000 (£177,964) for $32.3m (£24.6m) to date, while Captain Underpants and Goodbye Christopher Robin stand at $11m (£8.4m) and $3.66m (£2.79m), respectively....

‘Murder On The Orient Express’ Off To A Nice Speed At The B.O. With $1.6M; ‘Daddy’s Home 2’ Earns $1.5M – Thursday Night B.O.

20th Century Fox’s Kenneth Branagh-directed remake of Murder on the Orient Express got off to a solid start last night with $1.6M at 2,775 theaters, a preview figure that’s up there with Arrival‘s $1.45M a year ago and Girl on the Train‘s $1.23M. Showtimes began at 7PM. Tracking had Branagh’s latest directorial coming in the $20Ms, but more sober minds believe it’s high teens with a shot at $20M.

The pic is squarely aimed at an over 35 audience, specifically females, and moves to 3,341 locations today. Murder on the Orient Express features an all-star cast including Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley, Josh Gad, Michelle Pfeiffer, Judi Dench and Branagh, to name a few. Murder has a 64% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The opulent movie carries a reported production cost of $55M before P&A.

ParamountParamount’s PG-13 comedy Daddy’s Home 2 earned $1.5M last night at 2,800 theaters from showtimes beginning at 5PM. Tracking has the sequel opening in the low $20M range. Before P&A, Daddy’s Home 2 cost a reported $69M. The first movie in 2015 played in the wake of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and was the best of the Christmas crop that season debuting to $38.7M and legging out to $150.4M off a B+ CinemaScore.

Comps to Daddy’s Home 2 are Dumb and Dumber to which earned $1.6M in previews, a $14.2M Friday and a three-day of $36.1M three years ago. There was also Horrible Bosses 2 at that time which bowed over Thanksgiving and earned a $1M Tuesday preview, $4.3M opening Wednesday and a three-day of $15.5M.

Exit polls per ComScore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak for Daddy’s Home 2 last night were OK: 78% overall positive with men under 25 loving it the best at 86%. However, so far, they’re not the dominant audience watching the movie at 18%. Over 25 females and males turned out at 32% each and their so-so reviews are pulling this pic’s grades down right now with the ladies only enjoying it at 74% positive. Daddy’s Home 2 has a 7% Rotten Tomatoes rating. Critics hate comedy sequels, and they hated the first 2015 release too giving it a 31% Rotten.

DisneyBoth Daddy’s Home 2 and Murder on the Orient Express will fall in line behind Disney/Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok who will continue to lord over the box office in his second weekend with an estimated $60M. Last night Ragnarok made a robust $7M, +15% from Wednesday for a first week’s haul of $155M. Crossing the two century mark stateside is definitely part of Ragnarok‘s weekend destiny.

Also continuing to counterprogram Ragnarok this weekend is STXfilms’ A Bad Moms Christmas which grossed $1.9M last night, +19% over Wednesday for a nine-day running total of $28.4M. The movie looks to pull in older females with an estimated $10M while Daddy’s Home 2 hopes that more under 25ers attend.

Fox Searchlight is also opening their hot-buzzed fall festival title Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri at four sites including Regal Union Square and AMC Lincoln Square in New York as well as the Landmark West L.A., and Arclight Hollywood. The pic carries a 95% certified fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating.

Disney-Marvel’s “Thor: Ragnarok” is set to continue its reign at the box office in its second weekend with $61.3 million at 4,080 North American locations.

Fox’s Agatha Christie adaptation “Murder on the Orient Express” will open nearly neck-and-neck with Paramount’s comedy sequel “Daddy’s Home 2,” with “Murder” looking to bring in around $28.1 million from 3,341 locations and “Daddy’s 2” to pull in $27.3 million from 3,575 sites.

The third Thor movie ended a monthlong box office slump last weekend when it opened with $122.7 million, the fourth-best launch of 2017, so a decline of under 50% is well above the norm. Directed by Taika Waititi, “Thor: Ragnarok” stars Chris Hemsworth as the title character, with Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, and Jeff Goldblum.

“Murder on the Orient Express” was directed by and stars Kenneth Branagh as the famed mustachioed detective Hercule Poirot. The star-laden cast includes Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Michelle Pfeiffer, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, “Hamilton’s” Leslie Odom Jr., and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” actress Daisy Ridley. The film, set in the 1930s in Central Europe, was adapted by Michael Green and carries a $55 million budget. With fairly positive reviews from critics, it currently sits at a 59% on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Daddy’s Home 2” took in around $10.8 million on Friday, just $100,000 more than “Murder.” Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell reprise their roles as fathers co-parenting the children of Wahlberg’s character who struggle to cope when their fathers, played by Mel Gibson and John Lithgow, arrive during the holiday season. Reviews have been dismal, with a 16% Rotten Tomatoes score.

STXfilms’ “A Bad Moms Christmas” will clean up a tidy $11.8 million in its second weekend, slotting it into fourth place at the domestic box office and marking a less than 35% drop from its debut. The film stars Kathryn Hahn, Mila Kunis, and Kristen Bell as three mothers who are forced to deal with their mothers — played by Susan Sarandon, Cheryl Hinds, and Christine Baranski — when they unexpectedly show up for the holidays.

Fifth place is set to go to Lionsgate’s Halloween holdover “Jigsaw,” which will pull in $3.5 million in its third weekend.

Early awards contender “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” starring Frances McDormand and Woody Harrelson, opened with a strong $102,000 at four locations on Friday, with $290,000 projected for the weekend. The Fox film follows McDormand as a small town mother who wages war against her local police force after her daughter’s rape and murder goes uninvestigated for several months.

meeps wrote:SNOOPYDANCES: The opulent movie carries a reported production cost of $55M before P&A.

What's P&A, please?

Prints and advertising, the prints are the copies of the films that are provided to cinema and of course the advertising is all the publicity needed to promote the film such as premieres and press events.

And Wit, was his vain frivolous pretenceOf pleasing others, at his own expense